WS Chronicle

By Judie Holcomb-Pack

Day 45 of stay-at-home confinement. I’ve made every recipe I know and am now searching through cookbooks for something – anything – for which I have all the ingredients on hand. 

This one looks doable. I glance quickly at the list of ingredients and it appears I have all of them: chicken, rice, broccoli. I pull out a skillet and get to work.

The first ingredient is four chicken breasts … too much for just me and besides, I only have one chicken breast. I will have to make adjustments. 

Step one: I cut the chicken into thin slices. I look at the next step. Uh oh, I need a bag of frozen broccoli. Don’t have that, but I do have some fresh broccoli, so I will have to make an adjustment. I throw it in a pot to steam. No worries. 

Next I will need Minute Rice. Stymied again. I only have Uncle Ben’s Long-Grained rice. I will have to make another adjustment. I start the rice in another pot and focus on the chicken step.

Another roadblock. I need a quarter cup of Italian salad dressing. All I have is a leftover packet from a take-out salad from McDonald’s. Not quite a cup, so I’ll have to add something. Olive oil should do the trick. Another slight adjustment.

I cook the chicken slices in the Italian dressing/olive oil mixture. The next ingredient is a quarter cup of teriyaki sauce. Yay! I have that! A few dashes of garlic powder and it appears that I’m back on track. 

The recipe now calls for a cup and a half of water, then stir in rice and broccoli and simmer for 20 minutes. For a moment I’m stumped. I don’t need that much water since I’ve substituted the Uncle Ben’s for the Minute Rice and fresh broccoli for the frozen. I will have to make another adjustment. I baptize the chicken with a sprinkling of water and continue on.

Last step: I stir all the ingredients together and voila! Dinner is served. It is good.

Don’t ask for the recipe.